Vacation Pictures!!

While on vacation in Boston, Mr Kiwi's mom and I went to a knitting shop by her house, where we spent a long time looking at everything. That shop had been there for years, and she never knew it! She ended up buying me 2 skeins of Claudia Hand Painted. Mr Kiwi and I had also taken a 2 day trip to drive to Maine, where let me tell you, even the smallest town had at least 5 yarn shops (can I move to maine now?). I really wasn't expecting to go to so many yarn stores and farms, but it just sort of happened. I hadn't planned on getting more yarn than I could pack and take home with me, it just sort of... happened. So what does one do when they end up with not enough space to pack the things they accumulate on vacation? Why, you pack boxes and have the in-laws ship them once you're home, of course! Seeing as how Mr Kiwi wanted to take some things of his home from his old room, it's not like we were just shipping all yarn. On top of that, his sister bought us clothes at a rediculously marked down price since she works at the clothing store and gets discounts. (Can we talk about the awesome leather biker jacket she bought me?!)
I digress. The boxes showed up today! Mr Kiwi unpacked his things, and handed me two of my alapca skeins I bought. First thing I did was smoosh them to my cheeks, grin, and sigh. He wasn't quite fast enough with the camera to get it. Instead, he settled for throwing more skiens of yarn my way in attempts to get me to do it again. Of course, I did.

As I promised a long time ago (and never actually followed through) hrre are the pictures of the wonderful yarn that I bought on vacation.
I bought this baby alpaca in Booth Bay Harobor. Unfortunately, the shop was closing, but that meant that it was on sale for me. :o) The pictures shows it slightly grayer than it really is; it has a slightly richer purple to it.


I have two of these; one in the blue, and one in green. They have futures as hats.


This is the Claudia that Mom in law purchaed for me.


This lovely alpaca was purchased directly at the alpaca farm. So nice! I am still not quite sure what I am going to make with this.


Finally, this is from the Romney farm that we found only by the sign that called out "YARN" on the side of the road on the way to Booth Bay. Support your local farmers and spinners! That means all you people in the Maine area!

SP10 Contest: Flash Your Stash!

This week's SP10 contest is to flash our stash. I am sure a number of people I knit with are interested to see how I keep my yarn and how much I actually have. I believe I do have a decent sized stash, but it is organized and tightly packed into its "home" that from the outside it may look like I have nothing at all.

Here is the unit where I keep all of my yarn. Anything that does not fit into the drawers is either piled ontop of or in front of said unit.


Here are the yarns that are piled in front. There is some Sidar, Cashsoft, Cashmerino, and the blue is a kit for the Milinda Pullover from White Lies Designs.


The drawers in the unit are somewhat organized, by what exactly, I haven't yet figured out. But they are organized! The pictures are starting from the bottom drawer and working up to the top drawer. The bottom drawer is filled with all the crap that will fit in it that I have no idea what to do with. I have some Sugar n Cream cotton that was for hacky sacks and dishcloths. There are some samples and freebies that I have obtained from Stitches West last year and never got around to dealing with, along with the miscelaneous yarn ends left over from past projects. The purple in the lower corner is some yummy yummy hand spun that I bought when I first started knitting that I have no idea what to do with. It'll come to me.. sometime. Same goes for the ornage in the lower right and the curly purple right above it. There is also a large skein of blue hand spun 100% baby alpaca waiting to be knit up.


Second drawer from the bottom has light sweater/top yarns along with a skein of blue bamboo and hand spun green cotton.


All of the yarn in the middle dreawer is destined to be sweaters or tops, all which have the patterns already picked out. It's just jumping in and doing them that is holding it up. The exception to this is the orange alpaca that will be made for Mr Kiwi. Not sure what I am making with it, but it's for him (if you have met him, you know why this is more logical that me keeping it).


Second drawer from the top has yarn that will be made into sweaters and tops, and the yellow and blue yarns will be made into blankets (too many people having babies!)


And here is the top drawer! It has mostly sock yarns and lace weights for making shawls. It also has the famed Karabella Breeze that won me the last SP10 contest.


Finally, there is the top of the unit. There is some Cascade220 that is left over from the Frog Purse I knit my mom last year, as well as some Misti Alpaca (one of which was a winning.. thank you Robin!!). Here you will also find my one and only WIP, although not by choice. I ran out of yarn at the very end of those fingerless mitts and was waiting for the recipient to send me more yarn so I could finish them. I just obtained the yarn (see the gray yarn in the first picture) and very soon it will be off the needles and off the unit.


Whew! There it is; my very first Flash Your Stash post. Now... what project to start working on next...

Knitting Weekend!

This weekend was accidentally filled with yarn and knitting. Without meaning to, both Saturday and Sunday Mr Kiwi and I visited a few yarn stores we had never been to. Saturday we had made our way to Western Railway Museum in Solano County. It was very much in the middle of nowhere, and it was quite windy. It was really neat, and I got to knit on one of the trolly cars as it ran on the tracks. On the way, however, we stopped in Benicia at the Benicia Knitting Circle. The store was pretty small, but it was stacked to the ceiling with yarns. Giovanna was the woman who was there at the time we showed up, and was very helpful with a few questions I had. I ended up grabbing a few skeins of yarn that I am going to be using to make some baby hats for a coworker's future baby. The ultrasounds said girl, so let's hope so! One skein is Baby Star merino wool, and the other two are Plymouth Yarns Dream Baby DK.


Today we drove in to San Francisco and went to two knitting shops that I have been dying to see. The first one was ImagiKnit. It was so overwealming! I have never seen a place so big and so full of yarn! Interestingly enough, before I even got past the door and the sock yarns, I heard some one call Mr Kiwi's name and say hello to us. It was Romy who had hosted the WWKIP get together next to the Berkeley Rose Garden last year. I can't believe it had been a year since we saw her and of all places, we run into each other at a yarn store that I almost didn't go to. This shop had two very large rooms filled with yarns. They had a huge variety of just about everything; lots of silks, novelties, sock yarns, and wools. It was an incredible store, and when I asked one of the staff some questions, they were quick to help. I was impressed, but didn't buy anything since I was waiting to see what the next yarn shop had to offer.

Very near by was Noe Knit. While it was not nearly as large a shop, it was very nice. After touching almost every since skein in the place, I ended up buying a few. Four were Debbie Bliss Rialto (two in admiral blue and two in blue) and one skein of Regal Silk by Art Yarns in color 123 (descriptive, huh?)

The Debbie Bliss is so soft! I bought two skeins for myself, and thought a certain pal of mine would appreciate the other two. I am keeping the "blue" ones, and they have a future as a pair of fingerless mitts. Also, although I can't keep from touching silk, it is also going to go to my pal. I hope she doesn't see this before it gets to her. It's some awesome stuff, and I hope she can knit a cool scarf with it. I'll have to touch it a few more times before sending it off.

And since it is picture time, I started these socks last Sunday.

These are craptastic pictures, which is odd since I used the same camera settings as the other pictures and they were taken moments appart. The yarn is Tofutsies, and it is the warm colors. I think the oranges and pinks are making the pictures look kinda bright. These socks are going to be a gift for another friend. Who doesn't know it yet. Ha ha. It's also hard to tell, but at this point, I am in the middle of making the heel gussett, so they are near half way finished. I'm really enjoying this pair, and I can see progress after I knit for an hour!! ..Unlike the lace that became huge and it was hard to see how much I done in one sitting. Speaking of which, those pictures will be up before too long. The shawl needs some blocking before pictures can be taken.